...We have great news!!!...The Elder Vern Benefit on March 19, 2008 at the Workman Theatre is sold out, but you can still help! For Information on how to donate, please click on the Ticket page.....

What is Daré?

Daré (pronounced dar-ray),
means a sacred gathering for healing purposes. Daré is rooted in
the African Shona tradition of Council. The members of Dare
see this as both an ancient yet new universal language with
immense potential to contribute to global peace; peacemaking
that we believe necessary to healing the innumerable wounds that
divide the globe.

About Toronto
Daré

Daré practice originated
in Africa. Healer and shaman Mandaza Kandemwa hosts and lives
the Daré way of offering compassionate healing and support to
his Zimbabwe community. American writers, poets, activists and
healers Deena Metzger and Michael Ortiz-Hill, after powerful
initiations with Mandaza created a Daré in California. Over time
other North American Darés were created. In 2005 a small group
of people who knew or knew of Mandaza and/or Deena formed the
Toronto Daré and have since committed to the care of this
growing community.

Principles of Daré

Daré needs to be
experienced and lived in order to be known. Still, there are
certain principles that are fundamental to it. The strength and
essence of Daré is in the circle and its intelligence. Council
is its heart. And in Council one always speaks from the heart
and allows the spirits and ancestors to speak through one.
Wisdom comes from the combined voices and presence of everyone
who is participating. The purpose of council is to seek answers
from the community that we can't find ourselves. Asking and
addressing a single question coheres the community. For example,
"how do we heal what needs to be healed in ourselves and the
planet?" Daré is about peacemaking and healing. None of us at
Daré presumes to say we know what healing is, how it occurs, or
even how, always, to recognize it. Sometimes one is the healer
and sometimes one is desperate for healing. Sometimes the two
activities are one in the moment. We believe that healing is,
thus, an interchange, the dynamic of giving and receiving.
Everyone is welcome and welcomed in Daré. Everyone is listened
to and heard without judgment. This generous mind is not easy to
attain, it takes time, practice and dedication. Daré is the
place where each person's individual genius, intelligence and
particularity is sought out, acknowledged and called forth. And
finally, Daré is truly composed of all the members of the
community, living and non-living, visible and invisibles, the
humans and the non-humans, the people, trees, birds, animals,
stones and elementals.

If you want to learn more about
Daré
or interested in attending, pleaseemail us